That is because the text of the Act just referenced the High Court. It did not reference the judicial review which is, in fact, available to people anyway.

I feel it is a better process to go to the High Court to seek a judicial review in advance of going to the High Court, instead of going straight to the court. That is the purpose of the removal of that particular section.

The amendments in this group deal with issues such as fairness, wide access, non-inclusion and oral hearings. I agree there must be completely open and wide access to the review mechanism of the forestry appeals committee. That is why I have retained the provision that anyone dissatisfied with the decision on a licence may appeal to the FAC. I assure Members that any regulations or rules introduced will observe the principles of fair procedure and natural justice. The committee itself is best placed to determine wh…

I will respond to a few of the queries that have been raised. I am glad the Senators were happy with the removal of the provision in respect of the relevant person. It is funny that, now that this has been removed, the Bill is still being challenged on the grounds that it restricts who can make an appeal and on the grounds of access to justice. The wording in the Bill is quite clear in that regard. No one is restricted. I am looking at the amendments but I cannot find the specific one I am seeking. It seeks to prev…

I will briefly respond. The rules, directives and regulations made under this Bill cannot be used to narrow that right of appeal.

To do that would be a breach of the legislation. The rules and regulations cannot be used to narrow that right.

As I stated on the previous occasion, the Department is not withholding the almost 9,000 submissions. It takes time to redact them to make them compliant with the general data protection regulation. That is simply the process it is going through. At the outset, our initial focus was on examining the submissions. I agree it was late but we furnished Senators with an overall report. Once those submissions are all gone through the redaction process they will absolutely be on the website and anyone can look them up. I …

I was just going to respond to Senator Boylan. It is not necessary to submit an access to environmental information request; people just need to ask for the file. I have been given that assertion by the Department on the query.

I ask the Senator to send those details on to me.

This group of amendments relate to environmental impact assessments and appropriate screening. I think I have one missing but I will see how it goes. I agree that all environmental considerations must be taken into account in licensing forestry operations. To this end, all forestry licensing decisions must take account of all EU environmental directives that exist and must be in full compliance with all appropriate assessment and environmental impact assessment, EIA, requirements. In making determinations on licenc…

I am not willing to accept amendment No. 43. I believe the provisions now in the Bill make it clear that the options available to the forestry appeals committee in making determinations in respect of licences appealed exist. I believe these are appropriate and sufficient. The forestry appeals committee can decide to affirm, vary and allow the appeal and set aside the decision. It may also remit a decision of the Department. I note that if such a decision is then altered, it will be published and may be appealed. Th…

It is entirely appropriate that the forestry appeals committee should be satisfied whether a serious or significant error, or a series of errors, was made in making the decision that is the subject of the appeal. I will not be accepting the amendment.

I agree on the absolute need to ensure that the licensing system is robust enough in the first instance. If everything were right and fitted the bill at the start, there would not be any appeals. I acknowledge and appreciate that but it is not the job of the forestry appeals committee to examine and reissue licences. The role of the committee is to ensure that the licensing process has been conducted in an appropriate manner. It has the ability to, and surely will, examine whether it needs to have an appropriate as…

I will not be accepting these amendments. The committee will determine whether it is necessary to conduct an oral hearing in order to properly and fairly determine the appeal. This does not mean there will not be oral hearings. We will leave it to the independent committee to determine that. The committee will have its own procedures governing this matter in which it will make that determination. Such procedures will have regard to fairness and natural justice, and matters relating to notice and notification of ora…

I thank the Senators. I thank Senator Bacik for the welcome. I appreciate the effort Senator Higgins has made in putting together the amendments and the thought she has put into them. I should clarify the intention of this provision. It is that the Minister may ask the FAC to prioritise in certain circumstances a certain class of appeal over others, not necessarily one individual appeal over another individual appeal. All appeals will, of course, be processed, but there may be specific circumstances in which there …

I thank the Senators. While I appreciate the sentiment that fees should not be applied, there is a necessity to strike a balance between recouping some level of the cost while allowing access to the appeals system. This is in line with other planning processes. It is our intention to set reasonable fees that are not prohibitive and will represent only a fraction of the cost of conducting an appeal. The initial submission fee will be set at a very low level so the public also has a chance to engage at that stage, be…

The fees will be set in the regulation. I would be thinking, approximately, of something in line with An Bord Pleanála's fees of €20 for a submission and in the region of €200 for an appeal. That will have to be set in the regulation and the Houses of the Oireachtas will ultimately determine whether those fees are acceptable.

Now.

Now.

I very much thank my fellow Senators for their contributions this evening and for staying on so late on a Friday evening. I welcome that there has been a great deal of engagement on this legislation and that it has progressed. I was happy to accept those amendments I accepted. The Bill addresses the need for an efficient appeals system for forestry. There is an urgent need for the changes proposed in this Bill. The crisis in the sector deserves no less. I am confident that this Bill with its new amendments, togethe…